So it was with some interest that we took our copy of the Sims for the Xbox for a spin to see whether its debut on the Xbox would have the same appeal.

A bit on the game itself for those who have yet to be bitten by the Sims bug. Its basis is that you create a person at commencement of play by determining how they look, what clothes they wear and their personality traits. This "Sim" is then placed in a world where you must make friends, foster relationships, earn money, buy stuff and educate yourself. There is no "finish" to the game as such but rather the need to succeed and accumulate more and better assets. How you react and what you say to other Sims determines how they will interact with your Sim. Getting fresh with the next-door neighbour's wife can result in some interesting consequences.

Gameplay on the Xbox is almost an exact copy of what is on offer on the PC. You move you Sim about by selecting it and either giving directions of where to walk or what you want it to interact with. The only other user action required is the purchasing menu where you can chose additional items for your house or once you earn enough purchase a better and bigger house.

You can zoom in and out of the Sim environment as well as rotating the view. This is just as well as sometimes the pesky characters can hide behind furniture or walls. When your Sim undertakes any actions of a personal nature (such as getting undressed, taking a bath or a toilet break) a pixelated modesty banner blots out the character.

The animation is very well done and this is where some of the real fun and humour of the game comes into play. Your Sim has a host of animations depending on the circumstances they are put into. Try to fix the broken TV without reading up on mechanical repair first results in a comical animation of your character being electrocuted. The same applies to cooking, if you have no skill in this area the resulting fire and the rushing around with arms waving is funny to watch. These little touches add a great level of entertainment and keep the game interesting.

When interacting with other Sims, your character starts a an audible but nonsensical conversation. The subject being spoken about is pictured in a sound bubble in a something a kin to an emote. Depending on the outcome the conversation either results in a '+' to indicate an improving relationship or a '–' to show that your just making things worse. On the Xbox these emotes can be a bit difficult to sort out as the graphics in some circumstances are not particularly clear. This is a small niggle and after a while playing you manage to get the gist of what is happening.

To determine how you are doing with these relationships and to determine your Sim's state of mind you access differing sub-menus from the directional pad. If you don't make a concious effort to view these on a regular basis you can miss some important events (like your bladder being full). It would have been nice to have these on-screen at all times.

The game has two styles of play; 'Get a Life' and 'Play the Sims'. The first is really an introduction and is about shaping the personality of your Sim while the later is the game proper. This revolves around building a life in the Sims neighbourhood.

The audio and music is well done. If your Sim has a sound system, you can chose the style of music it will listen too. Once again it's these little details that make the game so appealing.

Once you complete differing levels under the 'Get a life' game you unlock various levels of multiplayer mode. Multi-player is available through split-screen.